Avacyn Restored/Event decks

Death's Encroach

When the dead walk the land, people are understandably nervous. The aggressive army of Zombies and other fiends in the "Death's Encroach" deck will incite panic starting on the first turn of the game. Diregraf Ghoul and Gravecrawler are your shock troops. Highborn Ghoul's intimidate ability makes it the perfect corpse for pressing the attack. And Lashwrithe can quickly turn any of your undead into the scariest creature around, with each Swamp you play making the equipped creature even deadlier.

Most Magic players aren't willing to play the hapless victim at the first sign of adversity, but Zombies are notoriously relentless. As long as you have a Zombie on the battlefield, you can cast Gravecrawler from your graveyard. Geralf's Messenger is ravenous, biting a chunk out of your opponent's life total once when enters the battlefield, and then again when it dies and comes back bigger thanks to its undying ability. And Cemetery Reaper not only makes your Zombies bigger, but it can also make new ones out of the fresh corpses in your graveyard and your opponent's.

Zombies wouldn't be terrifying if all they did was shuffle around and come back for more. Skinrender has a toxic touch, putting three -1/-1 counters on target creature as it enters the battlefield. Between it, Go for the Throat, and Dismember you have a good shot of killing every creature your opponent leaves back to block.

Your main deck focuses on playing creatures and killing creatures so that yours can attack. Your sideboard is full of discard like Distress and Despise to use against opponents who don't play many creatures and would rather try to slow you down with spells like Day of Judgment or powerful planeswalkers. If your opponent's deck is good at killing your creatures, bring in another Ghoulraiser to ensure that you never run out of threats.

When you're ready to customize this deck, there are multiple directions you can go. If you enjoy crushing all your opponent's creatures, Call to the Grave from the Magic 2012 core set might tickle your fancy while it saps your opponent's will to live. The black enchantment forces each player to sacrifice a non-Zombie creature at the beginning of his or her turn. Prefer overrunning the battlefield with your Zombie horde as quickly as possible? Try adding some sources of blue mana for Diregraf Captain from the Dark Ascension set. It makes your other Zombies more lethal on the battlefield and on the way to the graveyard. If you do shamble down that path, the Avacyn Restored land Cavern of Souls can help you cast all of your Zombies no matter what color they may be.

Humanity's Vengeance

Humanity's Vengeance is a white/blue event deck that focuses on the synergistic interactions between creatures featured within the deck. Some creatures are cheap and efficient combat creatures, while others are utility creatures or have abilities such as soulbond.

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The "Humanity's Vengeance" deck is designed to get the most out of your creatures by having them work together towards a common goal—victory! Your creatures don't stand out individually, but they combine and cooperate in interesting and powerful ways. Nearheath Pilgrim and Tandem Lookout both feature soulbond, a new Avacyn Restored mechanic that lets a creature share its powers with another creature. As long as Tandem Lookout is paired with another creature, you get to draw a card whenever either of them deals damage to your opponent. Mirran Crusader is the perfect companion. With its double strike ability, you'll draw two cards when it gets through for damage.

You can use Nephalia Smuggler to temporarily exile your creatures when an opponent tries to kill one, but there are trickier things to do with it. Target Blade Splicer to get another 3/3 Golem token if you just need to build an army, or swap out your Fiend Hunter's target when a bigger threat comes along. Looking for a more subtle trick? Attack with a bunch of creatures including a Tandem Lookout. After your opponent blocks, use the Smuggler's ability on your Lookout. When it reenters the battlefield, pair it up with an unblocked creature.

When sideboarding, consider whether your opponent wanted to start attacking you early or was content to slowly take control of the game. If your opponent was aggressive, sideboard in Cathedral Sanctifier and Inquisitor Exarch. The life gain will help you survive the initial onslaught while you set up your devastating combinations. Mana Leak and Negate are great sideboard options for matches where you're more worried about expensive spells and creatures, usually ones that cost four or more mana.

When you're ready to customize your deck, think about which plays worked the best for you and which you enjoyed the most. If you like attacking with fast hard-hitting creatures like Mirran Crusader, try the Innistrad set's Champion of the Parish. It gets bigger for every Human creature you play, which works well because almost all of the creatures in your deck are Human. Do you prefer Nephalia Smuggler's jaunty bag of tricks? Restoration Angel can temporarily exile something once, and after the shenanigans you'll still have a large, flying Angel.

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